ANNOUNCEMENTS 


EDUCATION    IN 


, 


LIBRARY 

OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA. 


GIFT    OF 


a 


Class 


NEW  YORK  UNIVERSITY 
BULLETIN 


VOL.  IX. 


JUNE  5,    1909. 


No.  13 


TERCENTENARY 
ANNOUNCEMENTS 

16O9-19O9 


44 


THREE  EPOCHS  IN 
EDUCATION  IN 
NEW  YORK  CITY" 


PUBLISHED  BY  NEW  YORK  UNIVERSITY  AT  THE  UNIVERSITY  BUILDING, 
WASHINGTON  SQUARE,  EAST,  MONTHLY,  JANUARY,  FEBRUARY,  MARCH, 
AND  WEEKLY,  APRIL,  MAY,  JUNE,  AND  ENTERED  AT  THE  NEW  YORK 
POST  OFFICE  AS  SECOND-CLASS  MATTER  UNDER  ACT  OF  JULY  16,  1894. 


The  Hudson-Fulton  Celebration  Commission 
was  incorporated  by  chapter  325  of  the  laws 
of  1906  of  the  State  of  New  York  to  arrange 
for  "the  public  celebration  or  commemoration 
of  the  tercentenary  of  the  discovery  of  the 
Hudson  River  by  Henry  Hudson  in  the  year 
1609,  and  of  the  first  use  of  steam  in  the  navi- 
gation of  said  river  by  Robert  Fulton  in  the 
year  1807,  in  such  manner  and  form,  either 
permanent  or  temporary,  as  may  be  found  ap- 
propriate by  said  commission." 

Under  the  provisions  of  the  statute  the 
officers  of  the  commission  are:  President,  Gen. 
Stewart  L.  Woodford;  presiding  vice-president 
and  acting  president,  Mr.  Herman  Ridder; 
treasurer,  Mr.  Isaac  N.  Seligman;  secretary, 
Mr.  Henry  W.  Sackett.  In  accordance  with 
the  original  statute  and  amendments  and  by 
appointment  by  the  Governor  of  the  State  and 
Mayor  of  New  York  City  the  entire  commis- 
sion is  constituted  of  more  than  300  prominent 
citizens  of  the  State,  including  the  presidents 
of  38  incorporated  villages  along  the  Hudson 
River. 


NEW  YORK  UNIVERSITY 

THE 


HUDSON-FULTON  CELEBRATION 


The  Commission  of  the  Hudson-Fulton  Celebration, 
representing  the  State  of  New  York  and  the  City  of  New 
York,  invite  New  York  University  to  join  in  the  celebra- 
tion from  Friday,  September  24th,  to  Saturday,  October 
2d,  of  the  tercentenary  of  the  beginning  of  civilization  in 
New  York  from  Hudson's  visit  to  this  region  in  1609,  and 
of  the  centennial  of  Fulton's  first  trip  by  steamboat  from 
New  York  to  Albany,  in  1807. 

The  Commission  rightly  emphasize  the  educational  char- 
acter of  the  entire  commemoration.  They  especially  ap- 
point Wednesday,  September  29th,  as  Educational  Day, 
The  official  announcements  of  the  Commission  are  given 
below. 

It  happens  that  September  29th  is  the  opening  day  of 
our  College  year  at  University  Heights.  To  bring  the  exer- 
cises of  that  day  into  accord  with  the  plan  of  the  celebra- 
tion, it  seems  advisable  that  two  orders  for  the  day  should 
be  adopted. 

First.  The  College  work  by  professors  and  students  in 
the  morning  hours  should  be  related  to  the  historical  events 
to  be  commemorated. 

Second.  Suitable  public  exercises  should  be  held  in  the 
afternoon.  The  program  for  the  afternoon  will  be  an- 
nounced in  due  time  in  the  public  prints. 

A  program  for  the  morning  has  been  prepared,  to  con- 
sist of  three  hours  of  lectures,  beginning  respectively  at 
9.15  A.M.,  10.30  A.M.,  and  11.30  A.M.  The  morning 

191689 


4:  THBEE  EPOCHS  IN  EDUCATION  IN  NEW  YORK  CITY 

prayers  will  occupy  a  quarter  of  an  hour  as  usual,  be- 
ginning at  10.15.  Each  of  the  four  classes  in  the  College 
of  Arts  and  in  the  School  of  Applied  Science  will  be  re- 
quired to  attend  the  lecture  of  one  hour  specially  prepared 
for  it  as  indicated  below.  The  roll  will  be  called  and 
absences  noted.  Each  member  of  the  class  will  be  re- 
quired to  take  notes  of  the  lecture  and  to  attend  a  quiz 
upon  the  same  within  a  week  after  September  29th. 

Each  of  the  eight  lectures  will  be  open  to  the  students 
in  general  and  to  the  public  so  far  as  the  capacity  of  the 
respective  lecture  rooms  will  permit,  the  seats  being  re- 
served in  the  first  place  for  the  members  of  the  class  for 
which  the  lecture  is  announced. 

PROGRAM  OF  WEDNESDAY 
COLLEGE  OF  AKTS  AND  PUEE  SCIENCE, 

Senior  Class. 

Professor  Francis  Hovey  Stoddard,  at  9.15  A.M.,  in 
the  English  Koom. 

Subject:  "The  Literature  of  the  First  Two  Centuries 
of  New  York  City,  1609-1809." 

Junior  Class 

Professor  Joseph  French  Johnson,  at  10.30  A.M.,  in  the 
Philosophy  Koom. 

Subject:  "Conditions  determining  the  Greatness  of 
New  York  City  as  a  Commercial  and  Financial 
Center." 

Sophomore  Class 

Professor  Marshall  S.  Brown,  at  11.30  A.M.,  in  History 
Koom. 

Subject :    "The  Political  History  of  New  Netherland." 


THEEE  EPOCHS  IN  EDUCATION  IN  NEW  YORK  CITY  5 

Freshman  Class. 

Professor  Herman   H.   Home,   in   Chemical   Lecture 
Koom. 

Subject:      "History    of    Education    in    "New    York, 
1609-1709." 


SCHOOL  OF  APPLIED  SCIENCE. 

Senior  Class 

Professor  Daniel  W.  Hering,  at  9.15  A.M.,  New 
Physics  Lecture  Koom. 

Subject:      "Fulton   and   Other   Promoters   of    Steam 
Navigation." 

Junior  Class 

Professor  Charles  E.  Houghton,  at  10.30  A.M.,  in  Engi- 
neering Lecture  Room. 

Subject :     "The  History  of  Steam  Navigation." 

Sophomore  Class 

Professor  Collins  P.  Bliss,  at  11.30  A.M.,  in  Drawing 
Room. 

Subject:     "A  Comparison  of  the  Steam  Engine  before 
1809  with  Eulton's  Steam  Engine." 

Freshman  Class 

Professor  Joseph  Edmund  Woodman,  at  11.30  A.M., 
Geology  Lecture  Room. 

Subject:  "Physiographic  Development  of  the  Hudson 
River  Valley." 


6  THREE  EPOCHS  IN  EDUCATION  IN  NEW  YORK  CITY 

PROGRAM  OF  TUESDAY  AND  THURSDAY 

On  Tuesday,  September  28th,  will  take  place  the  his- 
torical parade  in  the  City  of  New  York.  The  students 
of  New  York  University  are  invited  to  take  charge  of  two 
of  the  floats  or  moving  tableaux  in  this  parade.  For  this 
a  considerable  body  of  students  will  be  required.  Each 
student  receiving  this  bulletin  is  invited  to  volunteer  for 
this  work  upon  Tuesday.  Students  who  send  their  names 
in  first  will  be  given  the  preference,  other  things  being 
equal.  Each  volunteer  will  please  write  his  name  and 
address  upon  a  postal,  with  the  name  of  the  particular 
school  of  the  University  of  which  he  is  a  member,  and  send 
the  same  to  Dr.  George  C.  Sprague,  Registrar  of  New 
York  University,  Washington  Square,  City. 

Upon  Thursday  will  occur  the  military  parade  of 
25,000  troops.  The  line  of  this  parade,  it  is  expected, 
will  touch  the  north  side  of  the  University  Building  on 
Washington  Square,  extending  through  WTaverly  Place 
from  the  foot  of  Fifth  Avenue  to  Broadway.  It  is  hoped 
that  arrangements  can  be  made  for  tercentenary  exercises 
in  connection  with  the  schools  at  Washington  Square  in  the 
large  hall  upon  the  tenth  floor  of  the  University  Building, 
at  a  convenient  hour  on  Thursday,  either  before  the  be- 
ginning of  the  parade  or  after  it  has  passed  by.  The 
Women's  Advisory  Committee  of  New  York  University 
will  be  invited  to  take  part  in  arranging  the  program  at 
Washington  Square.  The  details  of  this  program  will  be 
announced  in  the  daily  newspapers  at  least  a  week  before  it 
occurs. 


THREE  EPOCHS  IN  EDUCATION  IN  NEW  YORK  CITY          T 

OFFICIAL  ANNOUNCEMENT 

BY    THE 

HUDSON-FULTON    COMMISSION 


*From  September  25  to  October  9,  1909,  the  State  of 
!N"ew  York,  under  the  auspices  of  the  Hudson-Fulton  Cele- 
bration Commission,  will  commemorate  with  appropriate 
exercises  the  300th  anniversary  of  the  discovery  of  the 
Hudson  River  by  Henry  Hudson  in  1609,  and  the  100th 
anniversary  of  the  successful  inauguration  of  steam  navi- 
gation upon  the  same  river  by  Robert  Fulton  in  1807. 

The  people  of  the  State  at  large,  and  particularly  the 
authorities,  students  and  members  of  all  educational  in- 
stitutions, are  earnestly  invoked  to  make  due  observance 
of  the  anniversaries. 

It  is  proposed  that  Wednesday,  September  29th,  be 
devoted  to  the  dedication  of  parks  and  memorials  and  to 
General  Commemorative  Exercises  throughout  the  State. 

Wednesday  is  essentially  an  educational  day,  designed 
to  be  participated  in  by  the  universities,  colleges,  schools, 
museums  and  learned  and  patriotic  societies  throughout 
the  whole  State.  While  the  commemoration  of  1909  must, 
from  geographical  considerations,  largely  center  around  the 
Hudson  River,  the  glory  and  the  material  benefits  of  Hud- 
son's and  Fulton's  achievements  are  the  heritage  of  the 
people  of  the  entire  State,  and  the  programme  for  Wed- 
nesday affords  a  practical  means  for  a  general  observance 
of  the  occasion  from  one  end  of  the  State  to  the  other. 

*From  a  pamphlet  entitled  "Hudson  and  Fulton,"  copyrighted, 
1909,  by  the  Hudson-Fulton  Celebration  Commission,  New  York. 


8          THREE  EPOCHS  IN  EDUCATION  IN  NEW  YOEK  CITY 

Features  of  this  day's  observances  will  be  as  follows :  Com- 
memorative exercises  in  Columbia  University,  ~New  York 
University,  College  of  the  City  of  New  York,  Cooper 
Union,  University  of  St.  John  at  Fordham,  Hebrew  Uni- 
versity, Brooklyn  Institute  of  Arts  and  Sciences,  Public 
Schools,  Historical  Societies,  and  all  the  universities,  col- 
leges and  institutions  of  learning  throughout  the  State  of 
New  York;  with  free  lectures  for  the  people  in  New  York 
City  under  the  auspices  of  the  Board  of  Education. 


The  Hudson-Fulton  Celebration  Commission  offers  the  following 
suggestions  to  aid  the  holding  of  general  commemorative  exercises 
throughout  the  State: 

Municipal  Authorities  and  Citizens  Generally 

Municipal  authorities  are  requested  to  cause  flags  to  be  displayed 
on  all  public  buildings  during  the  secular  week  beginning  on  Monday, 
September  27. 

Citizens  generally  are  requested  to  display  flags  from  their  houses 
and  office  buildings  and  merchants  to  decorate  their  store  windows 
with  the  national  colors  and  the  colors  of  the  celebration.  The  latter 
are  orange,  white  and  blue,  the  colors  of  Holland,  under  which  Henry 
Hudson  sailed  in  1609. 

Learned  and  Patriotic  Societies 

On  Wednesday,  September  29 — or  on  any  other  day  of  that  week 
if  more  convenient — it  is  recommended  that  patriotic,  historical 
and  other  learned  societies  hold  literary  exercises  bearing  on  the 
events  commemorated  or  on  the  consequences  of  those  events.  The 
leading  speakers  of  the  community  should  be  invited  to  participate. 

Exhibitions  of  books,  prints,  maps,  paintings  and  relics  will  be 
very  interesting.  Comparative  pictures  showing  the  appearance  of 
the  localty  in  1609  or  in  1807  and  in  1909  will  be  instructive. 

Historical  societies  will  naturally  consider  the  historical  aspects 
of  the  events. 

Scientific  societies  may  consider  the  flora  and  fauna  of  Hudson's 


THREE  EPOCHS  IN  EDUCATION  IN  NEW  YOEK  CITY  9 

time;   Hudson's  and  Fulton's  contributions  to  the  science  of  navi- 
gation, etc. 

The  preservation  of  local  landmarks  and  the  marking  of  historic 
sites  is  recommended. 

Educational  Institutions 

All  universities,  colleges,  normal  schools,  high  schools,  public 
schools  and  private  schools  are  requested  to  observe  Wednesday, 
September  29,  as  General  Commemoration  Day.  Programmes  should 
be  arranged  comprising  two  or  more  of  the  following  general 
features : 

1.  Patriotic  songs. 

2.  Debates. 

3.  Essays. 

4.  Tableaux. 

5.  Exhibitions. 

Songs 

The  following  songs  are  recommended:  "America,"  "Star  Spangled 
Banner,"  "Columbia,  the  Gem  of  the  Ocean,"  "Keller's  American 
Hymn,"  "Hail  Columbia." 

Any  good  sailors'  songs,  and  songs  of  England  and  Holland  would 
also  be  appropriate. 

Songs  of  other  nations,  with  the  display  of  corresponding  flags, 
would  typify  the  State's  welcome  to  the  people  of  all  foreign 
countries. 

Debates 

Debating  societies  will  find  material  for  public  debates  in  both 
Hudson's  and  Fulton's  achievements.  The  following  subjects  may 
suggest  others : 

"Was  Henry  Hudson  justified  or  not  in  sailing  to  America  in 
1609  under  his  contract  with  the  Dutch  East  India  Company?" 

"Were  the  Dutch  or  the  English  best  entitled  to  the  territory 
called  New  Netherland?" 

"Did  the  presence  of  Indians  in  this  State  on  the  whole  promote 
or  hinder  the  coming  of  civilization?" 

"If  the  British  had  controlled  the  Hudson  River  in  the  War  of 
the  Revolution,  could  the  Colonies  have  won  their  independence?" 

"Which  has  conferred  the  greater  benefits  on  mankind,  the  steam- 
boat or  the  steam  locomotive?" 


10   THREE  EPOCHS  IN  EDUCATION  IN  NEW  YORK  CITY 

"Which  has  had  the  greater  influence  on  the  prosperity  of  the 
State,  the  Hudson  River  or  the  Erie  Canal?" 

"Which  did  the  most  for  the  advancement  of  civilization,  Henry 
Hudson  or  Robert  Fulton?" 

Essays  and  Compositions 

The  discovery  of  the  Hudson  River  and  the  invention  of  steam 
navigation  offer  a  wide  range  of  subjects  for  essays  and  compo- 
sitions. A  few  subjects  are  suggested  as  follows: 

"Henry   Hudson   the   Navigator." 

"State  of  Geographical  Knowledge  in  1609." 

"The  Sea  Kings  of  England  and  Holland  and  what  they  did 
for  free  navigation." 

"Instruments  used  in  navigation  in  Hudson's  time." 

"The  League  of  the  Iroquois." 

"The  River  Indians  and  how  they  received  Hudson." 

"Legends   of  the   Indians." 

"The  settlement  of  New  Netherland." 

"The  fur  trade  of  New  Netherland." 

"How  the  beaver  influenced  the  history  of  New  York." 

"Customs  of  the  Dutch  settlers." 

"The  relation  of  the  Hudson  River  to  the  history  of  the  State." 

"Robert   Fulton  the   inventor." 

"Fulton's  debt  to  other   inventors." 

"Progress  in  steam  navigation  in  100  years." 

"Description  of  an  ocean  voyage  in  1609." 

"The  scenery  of  the  Hudson  River." 

"Legends  of  the  Hudson  River." 

"The  rank  of  the  Hudson  River  with  other  rivers  of  the  United 
States." 

"The  Influence  of  the  Erie  Canal  on  the  development  of  New 
York  City  and  State." 

"The  settlement  of  "   (in  the  blank  space  insert 

the  name  of  the  town  or  city  in  which  the  writer  lives.)  This 
subject  is  especially  recommended  to  stimulate  the  study  of  local 
history. 

Tableaux 

It  is  difficult  to  make  suggestions  for  tableaux  which  will  be 
applicable  to  all  parts  of  the  State,  to  the  different  conditions 
under  which  they  are  to  be  given  and  to  the  varying  resources  of 
the  participants.  Tableaux  can  be  given  out  of  doors  with  natural 
surroundings  which  cannot  be  given  in-doors;  and  effects  can  be 


THREE  EPOCHS  IN  EDUCATION  IN  NEW  YOKK  CITY   11 

produced  in  a  theatre  or  large  auditorium  which  cannot  be  had  in 
a  schoolroom.  Each  community  must  be  guided  largely  by  its 
own  history,  and  each  company  by  its  own  facilities. 

While  the  primary  object  of  the  Hudson-Fulton  Celebration  is 
to  commemorate  the  achievements  of  Hudson  and  Fulton,  it  is 
designed  also  to  stimulate  the  study  of  the  local  history  of  all  the 
communities  of  the  State.  Therefore,  any  important  or  picturesque 
or  interesting  event  in  the  annals  of  a  town  or  city  may  appro- 
priately be  represented. 

Exhibitions 

School  exhibitions  may  include  the  following  things: 

Pictures  of  Henry  Hudson;  the  Half  Moon;  Amsterdam;  the 
Dutch  people;  scenes  along  the  coasts  of  Norway,  Spitzbergen, 
Iceland,  Greenland,  Hudson  Bay,  the  Maine  coast,  and  the  Hudson 
River. 

Indian  relics  of  all  kinds. 

Relies  of  early  settlers. 

Pictures  of  Robert  Fulton,  early  and  modern  steamboats  and 
scenery  of  the  Hudson  River. 

Pictures  of  the  locality  in  which  the  exhibition  is  held,  showing 
its  early  and  present  appearances  in  contrast. 

Views  relating  to  the  Erie  Canal. 

Old  maps  of  North  America  and  New  York  State,  with  pins  used 
as  markers  to  indicate  voyages  of  early  explorers.  A  large  globe 
of  the  earth  thus  marked  would  be  instructive. 

Children's  Festivals 

Wednesday,  September  29,  and  Saturday,  October  2,  are  assigned 
to  the  children  of  the  State  for  out-door  festivals. 

Places. — These  festivals  may  be  held  on  the  rivers,  river-sides, 
village  greens,  parks,  park  lakes,  roads,  boulevards,  avenues,  streets 
or  parts  of  streets  set  aside  for  occasion,  recreation  piers,  open 
fields,  vacant  lots,  playgrounds,  campuses  and  athletic  fields.  If 
the  weather  should  be  inclement  or  if  for  other  reason  it  should 
be  advisable  to  have  the  festivals  under  cover,  use  could  be  made  of 
armories,  large  halls,  recreation  centers  and  roof  gardens. 

Form  of  Festivals. — The  festivals  themselves  may  take  the  form 
of  (a)  dramatic  presentations,  with  literature  and  arts  portraying 
the  heroes,  the  people,  the  civilization  of  1609,  and  symbols  of 
development — scientific,  industrial,  social,  political,  educational. 
Or  (&)  they  may  take  the  character  of  aquatic  or  land  processions 
or  pageants  with  arches,  poles,  banners,  emblems,  coats  of  arms, 


12        THREE  EPOCHS  IN  EDUCATION  IN  NEW  YOKE  CITY 

insignia  of  all  kinds,  colors,  and  streamers,  so  far  as  possible  to  be 
made  by  the  school  children  as  school  work.  The  symbols  should 
suggest  the  sources  of  the  Hudson,  the  different  cities  and  towns  in 
succession  blessed  by  its  waters,  the  various  products  borne  by  it 
for  distribution  to  mankind  in  all  parts  of  the  world;  and  also  the 
various  nationalities  which  in  succession  have  come  to  share  in  the 
blessings  of  the  river.  And  (c)  there  may  be  home  parties  for 
children  and  young  people  with  costumes,  plays,  games,  charades, 
etc.,  illustrative  of  different  features  of  the  places  and  events. 

Rejoicing. — Folk  dancing  of  all  nations,  in  succession  and  then 
in  unison  as  one  people,  is  suggested  as  a  form  of  rejoicing;  also 
historical  excursions;  tournaments;  golf;  tennis,  and  other  ball 
games;  all  games  for  kindergarten  and  older  children  in  parks, 
in  streets  set  aside  for  the  purpose,  in  open  fields,  and  vacant  lots 
— wherever  individuals  or  neighborhood  committees  make  it  pos- 
sible for  children  to  play.  Separate  places  should  be  provided  for 
the  segregation  of  kindergarten  and  small  children.  In  communi- 
ties near  the  Hudson  River,  the  participants  should,  if  possible, 
hold  their  rejoicings  on  the  shores  of  the  river  and  harbor. 

Co-operation. — Schools,  committees  and  individuals  arranging 
children's  festivals  should  secure,  if  possible,  the  co-operation  of 
departments  of  education,  departments  of  parks  and  various  other 
departments  of  government;  institutions,  playground  associations, 
athletic  leagues,  clubs,  associations,  societies,  neighborhood  leagues 
and  committees.  An  individual,  a  committee  or  a  society  may 
select  and  improve  even  a  vacant  lot  as  a  possible  place  for  some 
form  of  celebration  by  children.  Each  school,  institution,  club, 
society,  or  neighborhood  committee  should  provide  a  building  or  a 
playground  and  organize  for  the  children  of  the  school  or  neigh- 
borhood various  forms  of  entertainment.  The  improvement  of  such 
vacant  lots  may  lead  eventually  to  the  establishment  of  permanent 
parks  or  playgrounds. 

Books 

Following  is  a  partial  bibliography  for  the  aid  of  the  student. 
In  some  of  the  books  mentioned  are  more  extensive  lists: 

Indians. — Morgan's  "League  of  the  Iroquois,"  and  Ruttenber's 
"History  of  the  Indian  Tribes  of  the  Hudson"  (rare)  are  recom- 
mended with  the  following  more  accessible  publications  of  the 
New  York  State  Museum:  "History  of  the  New  York  Iroquois," 
"Aboriginal  Occupation  of  New  York,"  "Aboriginal  Chipped  Stone 
Implements  of  New  York,"  "Polished  Stone  Articles  Used  by  the 


THEEE  EPOCHS  IN  EDUCATION  IN  NEW  YORK  CITY   IB  - 

New  York  Aborigines,"  "Earthenware  of  the  New  York  Aborigines," 
"Wampum  and  Shell  Articles  Used  by  the  New  York  Indians," 
"Horn  and  Bone  Implements  of  the  New  York  Indians,"  "Metallic 
Implements  of  the  New  York  Indians,"  "Metallic  Ornaments  of  the 
New  York  Indians,"  etc. 

England  and  Holland. — Greene's  "Short  History  of  England"  and 
Motley's  "History  of  The  Netherlands"  will  give  the  relations 
of  the  countries  prior  to  and  at  the  time  of  Hudson's  voyages. 
"Motley's  Dutch  Nation,"  by  William  Elliot  Griffis,  D.D.,  L.H.D., 
condenses  into  one  volume  Motley's  "Rise  of  the  Dutch  Republic" 
and  in  addition  brings  the  historical  narrative  down  to  1908. 

Early  Voyages. — John  Fiske's  "Discovery  of  America,"  chapters 
I  and  II  of  his  "Old  Virginia  and  Her  Neighbors"  and  his  "Dutch 
and  Quaker  Colonies  in  America"  are  fascinating  reading  concern- 
ing the  sea-kings,  western  discoveries  and  American  colonization. 
Volume  IV  of  Winsor's  "Narrative  and  Critical  History  of  America" 
contains  a  great  fund  of  information  on  the  subject.  "Purchas  His 
Pilgrimes,"  published  in  1625,  is  difficult  of  access  but  useful  to 
the  critical  student.  "Hakluyt's  Voyages,"  containing  original 
records  of  the  principal  navigations  of  the  English  nation,  may  now 
be  obtained  in  eight  volumes  of  "Everyman's  Library"  at  35  cents 
a  volume.  For  individual  pre-Hudson  voyages,  the  following  "Old 
South  Leaflets,"  published  by  the  Directors  of  the  Old  South  Work, 
Boston,  Mass.,  and  costing  five  cents  apiece,  are  very  useful:  No.  17, 
"Verazzano's  Voyage";  No.  29,  "The  Discovery  of  America";  No.  31, 
"The  Voyages  to  Vinland";  No.  37,  "The  Voyages  of  the  Cabots"; 
No.  115,  "John  Cabot's  Discovery  of  North  America,"  and  others 
mentioned  in  their  list,  which  is  sent  on  application  to  them. 

Henry  Hudson. — John  Meredith  Read's  "Historical  Inquiry  Con- 
cerning Henry  Hudson"  is  the  most  exhaustive  investigation  of  his 
life,  but  is  rare.  Henry  C.  Murphy's  "Henry  Hudson  in  Holland" 
is  also  rare.  Edgar  Mayhew  Bacon's  "Henry  Hudson,  his  Times 
and  his  Voyages,"  is  perhaps  the  most  convenient  and  accessible 
modern  book  on  the  subject. 

Discovery  of  the  Hudson  River. — Asher's  "Henry  Hudson  the 
Navigator"  is  an  exhaustive  and  critical  account  of  Hudson's  voy- 
ages with  full  bibliography,  but  rare.  "Purchas'  Pilgrims"  (rare), 
reprinted  in  the  New  York  Historical  Society  Collections,  Vol.  I, 
gives  accounts  of  all  four  of  Hudson's  voyages.  B.  F.  De  Costa 's 
"Sailing  Directions  of  Henry  Hudson"  contains  a  dissertation  on 
the  discovery  of  the  Hudson,  but  is  also  rare.  John  Fiske's  "Dutch 
and  Quaker  Colonies  in  America"  is  by  far  the  most  readable 


14        THEPvE  EPOCHS  IN  EDUCATION  IN  NEW  YORK  CITY 

and  condensed  account  of  the  discovery  of  the  river.  Bacon's 
"Henry  Hudson,"  above  referred  to,  is  also  excellent.  Yates  & 
Moulton's  "History  of  New  York"  has  a  running  commentary  on 
Hudson's  voyage  up  the  river.  Old  South  Leaflet,  No.  94,  "The 
Discovery  of  the  Hudson  River,"  gives  that  portion  of  Juet's  diary 
of  Hudson's  voyage  relating  to  the  river.  The  American  Scenic 
and  Historic  Preservation  Society's  "Eleventh  Annual  Report" 
(1906),  contains  Juet's  Journal,  also  a  fac-simile  of  Hudson's  con- 
tract with  the  Dutch  East  Indian  Company. 

Settlement  of  New  Netherland. — Chapter  VIII  of  Volume  IV  of 
Winsor's  "Narrative  and  Critical  History  of  America"  is  an  inter- 
esting and  condensed  account  of  the  Dutch  in  America,  with  sources 
of  information  and  a  valuable  bibliography.  Fiske's  "Dutch  and 
Quaker  Colonies"  should  also  be  consulted.  General  James  Grant 
Wilson's  four-volume  "Memorial  History  of  New  York"  is  the 
fullest  and  most  scholarly  account  of  the  discovery  and  colonization 
of  New  Netherland  and  the  history  of  New  York  City.  Old  South 
Leaflet,  No.  69,  contains  the  "Description  of  New  Netherland  by 
Adrian  Van  der  Dorick."  "The  Story  of  New  Netherland:  The  Dutch 
in  America,"  by  William  Elliot  Grilhs,  D.D.,  L.H.D.,  is  a  new  and 
valuable  work  written  from  original  sources. 

The  Hudson  River. — Lossing's  "Hudson  from  the  Wilderness  to 
the  Sea"  and  Bacon's  "Hudson  River  from  Ocean  to  Source"  are 
interesting  descriptive  and  historical  works. 

Robert  Fulton. — Coideu's  "Life  of  Robert  Fulton"  and  Reigart's 
"Life  of  Robert  Fulton"  are  the  fullest  biographies  of  the  inventor, 
but  the  date  and  place  of  his  death  are  erroneously  stated  in  both. 
Convenient  small  books  are  "Robert  Fulton,  His  Life  and  Its  Re- 
sults" (194  pp.),  by  R.  H.  Thurston,  and  "The  Story  of  Robert 
Fulton"  (120  pp.),  by  Peyton  F.  Miller. 

Steam  Navigation. — The  fullest  work  on  this  subject  is  Admiral 
Preble's  "Chronological  History  of  the  Origin  and  Development  of 
Steam  Navigation."  A  brief  account  is  to  be  found  in  Old  South 
Leaflets,  No.  108,  "The  Invention  of  the  Steamboat."  A  valuable 
short  book  is  "A  Sketch  of  the  Origin  and  Progress  of  Steam 
Navigation  from  Authentic  Documents"  (printed  in  1848),  by 
Bennet  Woodcroft,  Professor  of  Machinery  in  the  University  Col- 
lege of  London  and  editor  of  the  indexes  of  British  patents. 

Local  Histories. — It  is  not  possible  in  these  pages  to  give  titles 
of  local  histories.  These  should  invariably  be  consulted,  however. 

The  librarians  of  public  libraries  will  almost  always  make  helpful 
suggestions  to  inquiring  students. 


THREE  EPOCHS  IN 
EDUCATION 

IN  THE  THREE  CENTURIES 

DUTCH,  ENGLISH  AND  AMERICAN 

OF  NEW  YORK  CITY 

BY 

HENRY  MITCHELL  MACCRA.CKEN 

CHANCELLOR  OF  NEW  YORK  UNIVERSITY 


FOREWORD 

This  address,  given  by  Chancellor  MacCracken  at  the 
Commencement  Wednesday,  June  2,  1909,  which  marked 
the  seventy-ninth  year  of  £Tew  York  University,  is  printed 
in  connection  with  the  foregoing  Tercentenary  Announce- 
ments, in  the  hope  that  it  may  help  to  excite  a  livelier 
interest  in  the  History  of  Education  in  ~New  York  City 
in  the  three  centuries  from  1609  to  1909. 


THEEE  EPOCHS  IN  EDUCATION  IN  NEW  YORK  CITY        17- 

THKEE    EPOCHS   IN   EDUCATION   IN   NEW 
YOKK  CITY 

New  York  celebrates  this  summer  her  tercentenary. 
Our  city  and  State  together  have  voted  to  expend  from 
the  public  treasury  on  this  anniversary  near  two-thirds 
of  a  million  of  dollars.  To  this  great  sum  will  be  added 
a  large  expenditure  both  of  time  and  of  money  by  private 
citizens.  Three  months  hence  our  students,  during  our 
opening  week,  which  is  the  last  week  of  September,  will, 
I  suspect,  be  more  interested  in  climbing  to  the  roof  of 
this  library  to  see  the  new  Half  Moon  ascending  the  Hud- 
son, than  in  finding  seats  in  its  reading-room  or  in  enter- 
ing its  seminar  rooms  for  making  research.  They  will 
throng  the  roof  of  the  University  Building  on  Washington 
Square  overlooking  New  York  Harbor,  and  possibly  the 
wide  roofs  of  our  medical  college  on  First  Avenue,  over- 
looking the  East  River,  to  watch  the  gathering  ships  of  all 
nations,  the  illuminations  of  the  bridges  and  streets  and 
public  squares. 

The  Commission  promises  that  not  only  our  own  na- 
tional government,  but  foreign  governments,  through 
their  fleets,  will  have  a  part  in  the  program  of  a  week  or 
possibly  a  fortnight.  They  assign  largely  to  colleges  and 
universities  the  historical  part  of  the  commemoration.  It 
seems  appropriate,  therefore,  to-day,  the  crowning  day  of 
our  year,  that  this  university,  which  bears  the  name  of  the 
city  and  the  State,  should  turn  the  minds  of  citizens,  es- 
pecially of  the  hundreds  of  youths  who  graduate  to-day,  to 
the  educational  lessons  of  this  tercentennial.  I  take,  there- 
fore, as  my  subject — Three  Epochs  in  Education  in  New 
York  City. 


18   THBEE  EPOCHS  IN  EDUCATION  IN  NEW  YOKK  CITY 


I  name  the  three  centuries  respectively,  the  Dutch  Cen- 
tury, the  English  Century,  and  the  American  Century. 
Although  the  Dutch  were  in  control  after  1609,  only  two- 
thirds  of  a  century,  yet  not  only  does  the  first  century 
belong  to  them,  but  largely  the  second.  Even  now  their 
works  do  still  follow  them.  The  English  Century  lasted 
a  full  hundred  years,  in  which  time  the  English  placed 
their  mark  deeply  upon  the  city.  The  American  Century 
began  nominally  more  than  a  hundred  years  ago,  yet  as 
New  York  was  most  sorely  afflicted  by  Toryism,  she  had  to 
struggle  to  become  American.  With  less  than  a  third  of 
her  citizens  of  American  parentage,  our  city  is  not  super- 
latively American  even  now. 

The  Epoch  of  the  Dutch  Century 

The  three  centuries  which  we  celebrate  were  each 
marked  by  a  great  educational  beginning.  In  the  Dutch 
Century  was  inaugurated  the  governmental  elementary 
school.  It  was  the  mother  of  every  public  school  of  this 
city  until  now,  from  the  kindergarten  and  primary  class, 
up  to  the  city  college  and  the  normal  colleges. 

The  great  educational  beginning  of  the  Dutch  Century 
was  not  made  till  twenty  years  after  the  voyage  of  Hen- 
drik  Hudson  in  1609. 

The  Dutch  began  to  dwell  on  Manhattan  Island  four- 
teen years  later,  in  1623.  Six  years  afterward,  in  the 
year  1629,  on  the  seventh  day  of  June,  which  will  be 
280  years  ago  next  Monday,  the  following  ordinance  was 
enacted  by  the  Weest  India  Company,  meeting  in  Amster- 
dam: 


THREE  EPOCHS  IN  EDUCATION  IN  NEW  YORK  CITY    19 

"The  patroons  and  colonists  shall  in  particular  and 
in  the  speediest  manner  endeavor  to  find  out  ways 
and  means  whereby  they  may  support  a  minister  and 
schoolmaster,  that  thus  the  service  of  God  and  zeal 
for  religion  may  not  grow  cold  or  be  neglected  among 
them." 

This  statute  constitutes  a  great  educational  beginning 
for  New  Amsterdam.  The  West  India  Company  em- 
bodied, so  far  as  America  was  concerned,  the  government 
of  Holland,  except  in  one  particular.  It  was  government 
by  a  trust,  but  the  arrangement  was  frank  and  above-board. 
Everybody  was  told  that  New  Netherland  was  to  be  gov- 
erned by  a  corporation,  or  by  patroons  who  were  the  crea- 
tures of  this  corporation. 

Only  in  one  particular  was  something  reserved  by  Hol- 
land for  a  party  outside  the  West  India  Company.  An  es- 
tablished church  existed  in  Holland  of  Reformed  or  Pres- 
byterian order.  It  acted,  so  far  as  America  was  concerned, 
mainly  through  an  executive  committee  in  the  city  of  Am- 
sterdam, which  was  entitled  "The  Deputies  on  Foreign 
Affairs."  The  records  and  correspondence  of  the  Deputies 
for  the  seventeenth  and  eighteenth  centuries  have  been  pre- 
served. So  far  as  they  touch  upon  American  matters,  they 
have  been  in  large  part  translated  and  published  by  the 
State  of  New  York.  I  speak,  therefore,  by  the  book  when 
I  tell  what  the  church  in  Holland  did  in  the  work  of  edu- 
cation. It  did  not  have  the  purse  strings  so  far  as  America 
was  concerned.  That  power  had  been  turned  over  by  the 
Holland  Government  to  the  West  India  Company.  It  did 
have,  apparently  by  unanimous  consent,  the  task  of  select- 
ing and  nominating  persons  to  teach  school.  But  these 
teachers  were  to  be  paid  quite  at  the  pleasure  of  the  gov- 
erning corporation. 


20        THREE  EPOCHS  IN  EDUCATION  IN  NEW  YOKK  CITY 

Earliest  Teachers  in  New  York 

The  church  committee  in  Holland  was  untiring  in  the 
humble  but  important  part  which  was  assigned  it,  namely, 
to  discover  and  nominate  school-teachers  that  were  willing 
to  cross  the  ocean  for  the  small  pittance  that  was  promised 
from  the  government  treasury.  Of  the  first  schoolmaster 
little  is  known  save  his  name — Adam  Koelandsen,  and  the 
statement  that  he  arrived  with  Van  Twiller,  the  second 
governor,  in  the  year  1633.  Theodore  Roosevelt  in  his 
brief  history  of  JSTew  York  City  adopts  the  tradition  that 
Eoelandsen  left  school-teaching  to  conduct  a  laundry.  If 
he  did,  it  is  probable  that  the  governing  corporation  did 
not  pay  him  for  teaching  enough  to  keep  his  body  and 
soul  together,  while  the  cleanly  Dutch  sailors,  who  thronged 
the  port,  were  willing  to  pay  for  cleanliness  as  next  to 
Godliness  and  more  necessary  than  learning.  Next  the 
government  made  a  school-teacher  out  of  a  carpenter,  Jan 
Cornelissen.  Then  the  Holland  Church  Deputies  in  old 
Amsterdam  stepped  in.  They  made  out  a  form  of  ap- 
pointment for  every  school-teacher  who  should  come  over. 
It  is  quite  as  good  as  any  form  I  know  .of  to-day  for  the 
appointment  of  a  teacher  of  an  average  school.  They  ask 
the  government  corporation  to  appoint  as  follows : 

"Whereas  nothing  is  more  important  for  the  well- 
being  of  men  of  whatever  station  than  that  they 
should  be  taken  care  of  from  the  very  beginning  by 
keeping  them  under  the  eye  and  supervision  of  the 
schoolmaster  and  in  the  exercises  of  the  school  that 
they  may  derive  from  such  instruction  the  means 
necessary  for  their  support  in  all  the  stations  and 
callings  of  life,  and  inasmuch  as  also  upon  these  ex- 
ercises both  the  glory  of  God  and  the  salvation  of 
man  are  not  a  little  dependent,  .  .  . 


THEEE  EPOCHS  IN  EDUCATION  IN  NEW  YORK  CITY   21 

"And  Whereas  Mr.  A.  B.  has  offered  his  services ; 
and  the  said  Classis  (of  Amsterdam),  having;  previ- 
ously inquired  as  to  this  individual,  and  by  examina- 
tion, have  ascertained  his  fitness  and  experience  for 
such  a  position,  he  has  been  appointed  schoolmaster 
with  these  specific  instructions,  to  wit: 

"He  is  to  instruct  the  youth,  both  on  shipboard  and 
on  land,  in  reading,  writing,  ciphering,  and  arith- 
metic, with  all  zeal  and  diligence:  he  is  also  to  im- 
plant the  fundamental  principles  of  the  true  Chris- 
tian Eeligion  and  salvation,  by  means  of  catechizing : 
he  is  to  teach  them  the  customary  Forms  of  Prayers, 
and  also  to  accustom  them  to  pray :  he  is  to  give  heed 
to  their  manners,  and  bring  these  as  far  as  possible 
to  modesty  and  propriety:  and  to  this  end,  he  is  to 
maintain  good  discipline  and  order,  and  further  to 
do  all  that  is  required  of  a  good,  diligent  and  faithful 
schoolmaster." 

Does  our  Board  of  Education  give  its  teachers  any  bet- 
ter commission  now  ? 

The  best  teacher  among  the  three  who  came  in  the  first 
decade  was  Jan  Stevensen,  who  taught  for  at  least  six 
years.  He  seems  to  have  been  first  a  private  teacher,  then 
a  government  teacher.  The  glory  of  the  Dutch  Century  is 
that  while  it  provided  the  public  free  school,  it  gave  free- 
dom of  teaching  more  than  any  nation  had  given  before. 
Holland  was  the  mother  of  freedom  for  the  school-teacher. 
A  letter  sent  back  to  the  Church  of  Holland  by  the  sole 
parson  on  Manhattan  Island  in  1647  explains  why  edu- 
cation was  not  more  advanced.  He  says : 

"The  congregation  numbers  about  170  members. 
Most  of  them  are  very  much  given  to  drink.  To  this 
they  are  led  by  the  seventeen  tap  houses  here.  You 


22        THREE  EPOCH'S  IN  EDUCATION  IN  NEW  YORK  CITY 

will  also  learn  more  in  detail  from  the  bearer  hereof, 
Master  Jan  Stevensen.    If  you  could  obtain  from 
the  Hon.  Directors  an  order  for  closing  these  places, 
except  three  or  four,  I  have  no  doubt  the  source  of 
much  evil  and  great  offense  would  be  removed." 
(At  that  day  New  York  City  had  its  Kaines  Law  hotels 
regulated  from  Holland  just  as  we  have  them  now  regu- 
lated from  Albany.) 

A  postscript  to  this  letter  says : 

"Master  Jan  Stevensen,  who  has  served  the  com- 
pany here  as  a  faithful  schoolmaster  and  reader,  for 
six  and  seven  consecutive  years,  and  is  now  leaving 
for  home,  has  been  informed  by  the  director!  and 
Council  that  he  must  pay  his  own  fare.  If  this  is 
so  understood  in  Holland,  then  the  poor  man  will  re- 
tain but  little  of  his  salary.  Will  not  your  reverences 
please  to  assist  him  with  the  directors,  that  he  may  be 
exempted  from  this  hardship  ?" 

"Hard-headed  Peter"  and  Public  Schools 
Peter  Stuyvesant,  who  had  more  energy  and  public 
spirit  than  all  the  other  Dutch  governors  put  together,  ar- 
rived eighteen  years  after  the  starting  of  the  first  school. 
He  was  as  energetic  in  education  as  in  everything  else. 
Here  is  the  record  of  a  local  historian : 

"Director  Stuyvesant  lost  no  time  in  calling  atten- 
tion to  the  state  of  public  education  in  New  Amster- 
dam as  well  as  to  the  mean  appearance  of  the  city  it- 
self. No  school  had  been  kept  for  three  months.  He 
communicated  his  consent  to  defray  on  behalf  of  the 
company  a  portion  of  the  expenses  necessary  for  the 
encouragement  of  education  and  to  continue  his  as- 
sistance in  future  to  promote  the  glorious  work.  A 


THREE  EPOCHS  IN  EDUCATION  IN  NEW  YORK  CITY    23 

convenient  place  for  a  schoolhouse  and  dwelling  for 
the  schoolmaster  would  be  provided  for  the  winter." 
Peter  Stuyvesant  took  up  the  schoolmaster  business  with 
the  church  government  in  Holland.   One  year  after  the  let- 
ter just  quoted,  he  sent  a  letter  saying : 

"We  need  a  pious  and  diligent  schoolmaster  and 
precentor.  A  year  has  now  passed  since  we  were  de- 
prived of  such  help.  By  this  our  young  people  have 
gone  backward,  even  to  grow  wild,  niln.il  agenda  male 
agere  discit." 

Peter  thought  that  a  little  Latin  would  perhaps  answer 
with  the  Holland  scholars  better  than  an  argument. 

In  1650  are  these  records  by  the  West  India  Company: 
"The  new  schoolhouse  has  not  been  built,  but  this 
was  not  the  fault  of  the  director  (Stuyvesant).  A 
place  for  the  school  has  been  provided.  Other  teach- 
ers keep  school  in  hired  houses,  so  that  the  youth  are 
furnished  with  the  means  of  education  according  to 
the  circumstances  of  the  country." 

"The  property  of  every  inhabitant  is  taxed  to  build 
and  support  churches  and  schools,  to  maintain 
preachers  and  schoolmasters." 

That  same  year  the  Church  Deputies  nominated  Wil- 
liam Vestens  of  Haarlem  to  go  to  America  as  school- 
master and  also  as  visitor  of  the  sick.  The  records  of  these 
Deputies  state  that  the  governing  corporation  accepted 
him.  Two  years  later  appears  a  record  of  action  by  the 
governing  corporation  addressed  to  Peter  Stuyvesant,  as 
follows : 

"We  agree  with  your  proposition  to  establish  a  pub- 
lic school  (this  seems  to  be  in  addition  to  the  first 
public  school).  We  believe  a  beginning  might  be 
made  with  one  schoolmaster,  who  could  be  engaged 


24   THREE  EPOCHS  IN  EDUCATION  IN  NEW  YORK  CITY 

at  a  yearly  salary  of  200  to  250  guilders  (that  is,  $80 
to  $100). 

"We  recommend  for  this  position  Jan  de  la  Mon- 
tagne,  whom  we  have  provisionally  appointed  to  it 
and  you  may  use  the  building  of  the  City  Tavern  if 
you  find  it  suitable." 

In  1656,  the  schoolmaster  Harmen  Van  Hoboken  peti- 
tions the  New  Amsterdam  government  for  the  use  of  an 
entry  and  side  room  in  the  City  Hall  for  a  school  and  a 
dwelling.  The  government  replies  that  they  need  the  City 
Hall  for  themselves,  but  they  will  allow  him  100  guilders, 
or  $40,  to  rent  a  building  for  both  residence  and  school. 
Three  years  before  the  reign  of  Peter  Stuyvesant  was 
ended  by  the  British  conquest,  I  find  the  governing  com- 
pany in  Amsterdam  displacing  the  schoolmaster  Hoboken 
by  the  appointment  of  Evert  Pietersen.  They  say  in  their 
letter : 

"We  command  all  persons  without  distinction  to 
acknowledge  the  aforesaid  Evert  Pietersen  as  con- 
soler, clerk,  chorister  and  schoolmaster  in  New  Am- 
sterdam in  New  Netherland  and  not  to  molest,  dis- 
turb or  ridicule  him  in  any  of  these  offices,  but  rather 
to  offer  him  every  assistance  in  their  power  and  de- 
liver him  from  every  painful  sensation  by  which  the 
will  of  the  Lord  and  our  good  intention  shall  be  ac- 
complished." 

Does  any  government  in  the  world  nowadays  attempt 
for  any  teacher  what  the  Dutch  attempted,  namely:  "To 
deliver  him  from  every  painful  sensation"  ? 

Up-town  School  Opened  by  Stuyvesant 
Peter  Stuyvesant,   autocrat  as   he  was,   had  to  make 
room  for  Pietersen,  but  shortly  after  we  find  that  there 


THEEE  EPOCHS  IN  EDUCATION  IN  NEW  YORK  CITY   25 

was  a  meeting  of  the  City  Council  at  which  were  present 

the  Director  General  Petrus  Stuyvesant  and  the  Hon. 

Johan  D.  Decker,  when  they  unanimously  adopted  the 

following : 

"Herman  Van  Hoboken,  before  schoolmaster  and 
chorister,  was  removed  because  another  was  sent  to 
replace  him,  whereas  the  aforesaid  Harmen  is  a  per- 
son of  irreproachable  life  and  conduct  so  shall  he  be 
employed  on  the  Bowery  of  the  Director  General  as 
schoolmaster  and  clerk  with  this  condition  that  the 
Director  General  whenever  his  service  might  be 
wanted  for  the  company  as  adelborst  (that  is,  as  mili- 
tary sergeant)  shall  replace  him  by  another  expert 
person." 

Tradition  says  that  Hoboken  taught  on  Sixth  Street, 
which  is  on  a  line  with  Waver ly  Place,  the  north  side  of  our 
University  Building  on  Washington  Square.  Further,  that 
Governor  Stuyvesant  provided  that  the  negro  children,  of 
whom  there  were  many  on  his  large  property,  should  be 
instructed  by  Hoboken. 

Finally,  the  very  year  when  the  rule  of  the  Dutch  and 
of  Peter  Stuyvesant  ended,  we  find  this  statute  enacted 
by  Director-General  Peter  Stuyvesant  and  his  Council: 
"It  is  commanded  that  Pietersen,  the  Principal, 
and  Van  Hoboken,  of  the  branch  school  on  the  Bow- 
ery, on  Wednesday  before  the  beginning  of  the  ser- 
mon, shall  appear  with  the  children  entrusted  to  their 
care  in  the  church  to  examine,  after  the  close  of  the 
sermon,  each  of  them  his  own  scholars  in  the  presence 
of  the  reverend  ministers  and  elders,  what  they  in 
the  course  of  the  week  do  remember  of  the  Command- 
ments and  the  Catechism,  and  what  progress  thny 


25        THREE  EPOCHS  IN  EDUCATION  IN  NEW  YORK  CITY 

have  made,  after  which  the  children  shall  be  allowed 
a  decent  recreation." 

This  was  dated  in  1664,  the  year  in  which  the  hard- 
headed  Peter  was  asked  to  abdicate  office  and  devote  him- 
self to  his  farm.  Yet  the  Dutch  returned  to  rule  for  a 
little  while  in  1673  and  1674. 

Memorial  of  Dutch  Century  Suggested 
As  I  say  good-by  to  the  Dutch  Century,  I  suggest  that 
this  tercentenary  year  is  a  fit  time  to  set  up  within  the 
limits  of  the  old  Dutch  city  a  monument,  or  at  least  a 
memorial  tablet  inscribed  to  the  seven  first  public  school- 
teachers of  Manhattan  Island.  They  were  supported  by 
the  city  money.  They  gave  education  free  to  children  in 
this  city.  They  more  than  any  others  were  the  educational 
pioneers  of  this  city.  The  entrance  way  of  our  New  York 
University  building  on  Waverly  Place  will  perhaps  be  a 
place  for  the  memorial  tablet,  because  the  last  school 
opened  by  the  Dutch  was,  as  I  have  said,  upon  the  line  of 
that  street.  I  suggest  for  an  inscription  the  following: 

"In  honor  of  the  seven  public  school-teachers  who 
taught  under  Dutch  rule  on  Manhattan  Island: 
Adam  Roelandsen,  Jan  Cornelissen,  Jan  Stevensen, 
William  Vestens,  Jan  de  la  Montague,  Harmanus 
Van  Hoboken,  and  Evert  Pietersen." 

II 

In  the  English  Century  the  great  educational  beginning 
was  the  founding  of  the  first  college,  which  was  known 
first  as  King's  College,  but  now  as  Columbia  University. 
This  beginning  was  not  made  until  forty-five  years  after 
1709. 


THBEE  EPOCHS  IN  EDUCATION  IN  NEW  YORK  CITY    27 

In  What  England  Failed 

The  century  of  English  rule  in  New  York  is  almost  a 
blank  as  to  public  education.  To  see  how  this  came  about, 
consider  the  condition  of  New  York  at  that  time.  At  the 
time  of  the  final  surrender  of  the  government  by  the 
Dutch,  Manhattan  Island  had  less  than  3,000  inhabitants. 
There  were  fewer  people  than  you  may  find  to-day  in  a 
single  office  building  that  occupies  half  a  block  in  the 
downtown  region.  What  is  now  the  City  Hall  Square  was 
for  some  time  after  the  year  1700  a  region  of  farms  and 
orchards.  An  official  manual  gives  the  population  in  1712 
at  less  than  6,000.  Twenty  years  later  it  had  increased 
nearly  one-half  and  was  about  8,600.  Of  these  at  least 
a  fifth  were  negroes.  Even  at  the  close  of  British  rule,  the 
closely  settled  part  of  the  city  was  still  far  below  the  City 
Hall.  The  churches  had  then  reached  fifteen  in  number 
— the  three  Dutch  accommodating  the  most  people;  the 
three  Episcopal  coming  next ;  then  the  three  Presbyterian, 
of  which  the  furthest  uptown  was  on  City  Hall  Square; 
the  other  churches  were  one  Methodist,  one  Moravian,  one 
Baptist,  one  French  Reformed,  one  Friends  Meeting 
House,  and  one  Jewish  Synagogue.  These  fifteen 
churches  represented  the  national  and  religious  differ- 
ences of  as  many  thousands  of  people — the  Dutch  standing 
for  the  Dutch,  the  Anglican  church  for  the  English,  the 
Presbyterian  for  a  mixture  of  Scotch,  especially  of  Ul- 
ster Scotch,  and  New  Englanders. 

If  the  city  had  remained  Dutch  or  had  become  homo- 
geneously English  or  Scotch,  the  common  schools  would 
have  been  taken  care  of  by  the  government,  the  only  way 
that  was  then  considered  feasible.  The  government  would 
have  supported  an  established  church  and  demanded  that 


28        THEEE  EPOCHS  IN  EDUCATION  IN  NEW  YORK  CITY 

the  established  church  look  after  the  common  schools.  I 
have  shown  that  this  occurred  in  the  Dutch  Century  of 
New  York.  It  was  the  method  in  Scotland,  where  from  the 
time  of  John  Knox  every  parish  was  expected  to  have  its 
school.  It  was  done  less  thoroughly  in  England,  because 
England  was  less  democratic  than  Scotland  or  Holland. 
Then,  as  now,  England  emphasized  education  for  the  up- 
per classes  but  was  slow  to  provide  schools  for  those  who 
had  nothing  to  pay.  The  problem  of  the  school  in  England 
even  now  is  a  problem  of  the  classes  and  the  masses. 

To  show  that  I  am  not  unfair  to  the  English,  I  quote 
the  official  history  of  the  New  York  Public  School,  pub- 
lished three  years  since,  which  says: 

"The  Provincial  Government  did  nothing  or  al- 
most nothing  for  popular  education  during  the  whole 
time  of  British  sway  over  the  Colonies.    Eree  edu- 
cation in  the  modern  sense  was  unknown." 
I  also  quote  our  State  Commissioner  of  Education,  Dr. 
Draper,  who  says: 

"All  the  English  schools  in  the  Province  from 
1700  down  to  the  date  of  the  Declaration  of  Inde- 
pendence were  maintained  by  a  great  religious  society 
organized  under  the  auspices  of  the  Church  of  Eng- 
land and  of  course  with  the  favor  of  the  government, 
called  The  Society  for  the  Propagation  of  the  Gospel 
in  Foreign  Parts.'  The  law  governing  this  Society 
provided  that  no  teacher  should  be  employed  until  he 
had  proved  his  affection  to  the  present  government 
and  his  conformity  to  the  doctrine  and  discipline  of 
the  Church  of  England." 
Dr.  Draper  adds: 

"Schools  maintained  under  such  auspices  and  influ- 
ences were  in  no  sense  free  schools.   Humiliating  as 


THREE  EPOCHS  IN  EDUCATION  IN  NEW  YORK  CITY        V\) 

it  is,  no  student  of  history  can  fail  to  discern  the  fact 
that  the  government  of  Great  Britain  during  its  su- 
premacy in  this  territory  did  nothing  to  facilitate 
the  extension  or  promote  the  efficiency  of  free  elemen- 
tary schools  among  the  people." 

Wilson's  History  of  New  York  finds  in  the  list  of  citi- 
zens admitted  to  vote  within  the  eighty  years  before  the 
^Revolution  the  names  of  thirty-two  schoolmasters.  There 
were  a  few  schoolmistresses  and,  no  douht,  some  school- 
masters who  did  not  qualify  as  voters.  This  proves  that 
private  schools  were  numerous.  These  and  the  few  teach- 
ers of  the  Dutch  and  the  English  church  schools  cared  for 
elementary  education  during  the  English  Century. 

The  First  College  an  Epoch  in  English  Century 

The  only  notable  educational  epoch  of  the  English  Cen- 
tury was  the  founding  of  King's  College.  The  history  of 
Dean  Van  Amringe  of  Columbia  College  finds  "the  earli- 
est manifestation  of  an  intent  to  found  a  college  in  a  let- 
ter written  in  1702,  recorded  in  the  minutes  of  the  vestry 
of  Trinity  Church."  It  was  addressed  to  a  church  society 
in  England.  It  solicited  the  gift  of  the  King's  Farm  of 
thirty-two  acres,  which  gift  was  granted  to  Trinity 
Church.  Nothing  came  of  the  plan  of  establishing  a  col- 
lege till  1746,  and  the  decade  following,  when  the  legis- 
lature of  the  Colony  collected  by  lottery  near  $40,000  for 
the  founding  of  a  college.  It  vested  the  money  in  trustees, 
who  were  to  receive  proposals  from  any  city  or  any 
county  in  the  Colony  who  might  desire  said  college.  A 
proposal  came  from  Trinity  Church,  offering  a  part  of  the 
King's  Farm,  which  was  accepted.  Dean  Van  Amringe's 
history  says: 


30        THREE  EPOCHS  IN  EDUCATION  IN  NEW  YORK  CITY 

"The  expressed  condition  of  the  grant  was  that  the 
president  of  the  said  college  forever  shall  be  a  mem- 
ber, and  in  communion  with  the  Church  of  England 
as  by  law  established,  and  that  the  morning  and  the 
evening  service  in  the  said  college  be  the  liturgy  of 
the  said  church.    The  stipulations  alluded  to  were 
after  the  Revolution  eliminated  from  the  charter,  but 
they  still  remain  the  condition  of  the  Deed  of  Gift." 
The  same  history  states  that  the  original  trustees  of  the 
lottery  fund  were  a  half  dozen  officials  of  the  Colony  to- 
gether with  three  private  citizens.  Two-thirds  of  these  were 
members   of  the  Vestry   of  Trinity   Church,   or  of  the 
Church  of  England.  A  single  trustee,  William  Livingston, 
made  a  protest  to  the  legislature  against  the  denomina- 
tional restrictions.   Dean  Van  Amringe  quotes  the  Rector 
of  Trinity  Church,  who  writes  of  the  opposition  in  the 
legislature  thus: 

"It  was  with  much  difficulty  that  they  were  pre- 
vented from  censuring  the  conduct  of  the  trustees 
and  returning  thanks  to  Livingston.  We  were  all 
afraid  that  this  would  have  retarded  the  sealing  of 
the  charter,  and  some  well  wishers  to  the  thing  would 
have  consented  to  the  retarding  of  it  had  not  the  gov- 
ernor appeared  resolute  and  come  to  town  on  Satur- 
day, and  fixed  the  seal  to  it  and,  to  do  him  justice,  he 
has  given  us  a  good  majority  of  churchmen." 
The  letter  further  says : 

"The  granting  of  the  charter  did  not  silence  the 
opposition  but  turned  it  in  another  direction.  Vigor- 
ous attempts  were  made  to  prevent  a  transference  of 
the  money  raised  for  the  endowment  of  the  college, 
and  to  establish,  by  act  of  the  Assembly,  a  'New  York 
College/  in  place  of  or  in  distinction  to  a  'Trinity 


THREE  EPOCHS  IN  EDUCATION  IN  NEW  YORK  CITY    31 

Church  College7  as,  to  discredit  it,  King's  College 
was  styled." 

Finally,  the  trustees  compromised  with  the  legislature, 
accepting  half  of  the  money  raised  by  lottery.  This  half 
amounted  to  between  $15,000  and  $20,000.  The  other 
half  was  devoted  to  the  building  of  a  pest  house  for  per- 
sons having  contagious  distempers,  and  the  building  of  a 
new  public  jail.  Further  500  pounds  a  year  of  excise 
moneys  were  promised  the  college  each  year  for  seven 
years.  A  year  later,  in  175 5,  Trinity  Church  deeded  a 
parcel  of  land  west  of  Broadway,  extending  to  the  Hud- 
son, between  Murray  Street  and  Barclay  Street,  to  the 
corporation  of  the  college,  the  denominational  conditions 
referred  to  above  being  made  a  part  of  the  deed.  Dean 
Van  Amringe  quotes  a  pamphlet  published  by  a  vestryman 
of  Trinity  Church  and  a  lawyer  of  distinction,  presenting 
the  position  of  the  church.  He  said : 

"They  thought  it  their  duty  as  Christians  and  in 
justice  to  their  constituents  to  take  at  least  some  care 
that  they  did  not  part  with  the  lands  they  were  en- 
trusted with  unless  for  the  interest  of  religion  and, 
therefore,  I  must  say  I  think  wisely,  came  to  this 
resolution,  to  wit :  That  they  would  not  part  with  our 
lands  but  upon  the  conditions  since  mentioned  in  the 
charter.  The  Vestry  of  the  Church  acquainted  the 
trustees  with  this  resolution." 

A  Denominational  College  Expedient 

To-day,  after  a  lapse  of  150  years,  the  student  of  Amer- 
ican education  may  fairly  say,  the  vestrymen  of  Trinity 
Church  were  right.  They  were  trustees  of  property  given 
for  the  advancement  of  religion.  They  were  bound  to  so 


32        THEEE  EPOCHS  IN  EDUCATION  IN  NEW  YORK  CITY 

use  and  direct  that  property  as  would  conserve  and  pro- 
mote the  Christian  faith. 

There  was  something,  too,  in  the  argument  on  behalf  of 
an  Anglican  church  college  presented  by  the  Vestry  of 
Trinity  Church  in  a  letter  to  England  about  this  time. 
The  letter  says: 

"The  dissenters  have  already  three  seminaries." 
(This  means  Harvard,  Yale  and  Princeton.) 
"Churches  of  the  national  establishment  are  de- 
barred of  a  liberal  education  unless  they  submit  to  ac- 
cept it  on  such  conditions  as  dissenters  require, 
which  in  Yale  College  is  to  submit  to  a  fine  as  often 
as  they  attend  public  worship  in  the  Church  of  Eng- 
land. Communicants  only  are  excepted  and  that  only 
on  Christmas  and  sacrament  days.  This  we  cannot 
but  look  upon  as  hard  measure." 

The  only  mistake  made  by  the  founders  of  King's  Col- 
lege was  that  taking  advantage  of  the  fact  that  the  gov- 
ernor and  council  of  the  Colony  sent  over  from  England 
were  members  of  the  Anglican  Church,  they  persuaded 
them  to  divert  public  moneys  against  the  wish  of  the  great 
majority  of  the  citizens,  to  a  denominational  foundation. 
A  party  comprising  less  than  a  fifth  of  the  community  got 
public  money  to  advance  their  own  denomination  to  the 
relative  detriment  of  all  other  denominations  of  which 
there  were  then  half  a  dozen  with  churches  in  New  York 
City.  Had  the  friends  of  King's  College  been  content  to 
depend  on  gifts  from  England  and  the  English  established 
church,  no  hot  controversy  would  have  occurred.  King's 
College  would  probably  have  secured  just  as  complete  a 
monopoly  of  the  college  business.  Eor  no  great  demand 
existed  at  that  time  for  college  education.  Dean  Van  Am- 
ringe's  history  says  that  on  the  opening  of  the  college  in 


THREE  EPOCHS  IN  EDUCATION  IN  NEW  YORK  CITY   33 

July,  1754,  eight  candidates  were  admitted.  Over  ten 
years  later,  only  ten  years  before  the  War  of  the  Kevo- 
lution,  the  number  of  students  varied  between  fifteen  and 
thirty. 

It  is  plain  that  denominational  or  church  colleges  were 
the  only  practicable  colleges  for  the  Colonial  period  for 
the  following  reasons :  The  only  teachers  available  in  this 
new  world  for  professors,  willing  to  serve  for  the  small 
pittance  offered,  were  clergymen.  The  only  organizations 
intensely  interested  in  college  education  were  the 
churches.  The  only  motives  strong  enough  to  induce  citi- 
zens to  part  with  any  considerable  money,  except  perhaps 
by  the  infamous  methods  of  a  lottery,  were  religious  mo- 
tives. Therefore,  the  only  Colonial  colleges  worth  men- 
tioning were  denominational.  The  plan  of  William  Liv- 
ingston for  a  "New  York  College"  was  a  piece  of  beautiful 
educational  architecture,  but  it  was  a  castle  in  the  air. 

First  Champion  of  a  New  York  University 

This  William  Livingston  was  a  remarkable  man.  Born 
in  1723,  he  practised  law  in  New  York  from  the  time  he 
was  twenty-five  till  he  was  near  forty,  then  he  removed  to 
New  Jersey  and  became  governor,  which  office  he  held  till 
his  death.  He  was  one  of  the  notable  men  who  helped 
make  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States  in  1787.  He 
was  a  fluent  and  forcible  writer.  He  put  out  a  paper  en- 
titled "Twenty  Unanswerable  Keasons  against  a  Sectarian 
College."  They  were  mostly  reasons  against  turning  over 
the  public  money  to  a  church  college.  They  never  were 
answered.  It  was  this  argument,  no  doubt,  that  saved  half 
the  lottery  money  to  the  state  treasury  and  prevented  the 
annual  tax  for  King's  College  being  extended  beyond 


34:       THREE  EPOCHS  IN  EDUCATION  IN  NEW  YORK  CITY 

seven  years.  William  Livingston  was  not  a  mere  obstruc- 
tionist. He  sincerely  believed  in  an  undenominational 
state  university  to  be  immediately  placed  in  the  city  of 
New  York.  He  brought  forward  a  bill  which  is  inscribed 
on  the  printed  journal  of  the  Assembly  of  the  Colony  for 
1754.  This  bill  proposed  what  would  have  been  the  be- 
ginning of  a  university.  Livingston  proposed  at  the  outset 
to  have  instruction  in  law  and  medicine,  as  well  as  in  the 
arts  and  sciences.  It  forbade  any  system  of  divinity  to  be 
taught  by  the  college,  but  provided  that  each  prominent 
denomination  in  the  city  should  appoint  a  professor  of 
divinity  to  teach  the  youth  of  that  denomination,  yet  their 
salaries  were  to  be  paid  out  of  the  treasury  of  the  College. 
Livingston's  own  words  declare :  "That  the  corporation  be 
inhibited  from  electing  a  divinity  professor  and  that  the 
degrees  to  be  conferred  be  only  in  the  Arts,  Physic  (Medi- 
cine), and  Civil  Law."  Yet  Livingston  did  not  rule  wor- 
ship out  of  the  college.  He  proposes  that  there  be  a  com- 
posite of  forms  of  prayer  "from  a  variety  of  approved 
books  of  devotion  among  all  sects  and  perhaps  it  may  be 
thought  better  to  frame  them  as  near  as  possible  in  the 
language  of  Scripture."  It  shall  be  "such  a  formulary 
for  the  said  morning  and  evening  service  as  shall  be  least 
exceptionable  to  the  several  denominations  of  Christians 
in  this  province."  He  provides  that  the  corporation  shall 
exist  not  by  charter,  but  by  act  of  legislature  under  the 
title  of  "The  President  and  Trustees  of  the  Provincial 
College  of  New  York."  Of  this  educational  castle  in  the 
air  of  William  Livingston,  the  following  may  be  safely 
affirmed.  First,  it  was  an  anticipation  in  its  plan  of  nearly 
all  that  was  best  in  the  charter  of  New  York  University 
three-quarters  of  a  century  after.  Second,  it  was  an  antici- 
pation of  the  state  universities  which  to-day  are  doing 


THREE  EPOCHS  IN  EDUCATION  IN  NEW  YORK  CITY   35 

half  of  the  university  work  in  the  United  States.  Third,  it 
was  marked  by  a  sincerity,  a  catholicity,  and  a  patriotism 
unsurpassed  in  his  generation. 

Nevertheless,  it  would  only  have  been  possible  if  the 
12,000  people  who  then  constituted  the  city  of  New  York 
and  the  200,000  in  the  entire  colony,  had  been  as  thor- 
oughly of  one  race,  one  heart  and  one  religion,  as  were  the 
Puritans  of  Connect 'cut  or  Massachusetts. 

Memorial  to  Livingston  Suggested 
If  I  am  asked  to  name  any  one  American  as  the  origina- 
tor of  the  university  idea  for  America,  I  name  William 
Livingston.  When  the  tablet  that  I  have  proposed  for  the 
seven  public  school-teachers  of  the  Dutch  Century  shall  be 
erected,  it  ought  to  be  balanced  by  a  tablet  upon  the  other 
side  of  the  entrance  portico  of  the  University  Building  at 
Washington  Square,  containing  a  memorial  to  William 
Livingston,  the  broadest-minded  educator  of  the  English 
Century.  I  suggest  the  following  inscription : 

"In  honor  of  William  Livingston,  1723-1790,  who 
first  in  America  planned  a  university  on  broad,  unde- 
nominational, patriotic  lines,  and  eloquently,  albeit 
prematurely  urged  the  Colony  of  New  York  to  estab- 
lish the  same  a  century  and  a  half  ago." 

III. 

The  Educational  Epoch  which  I  name  for  the  American 
Century  is  the  founding  of  New  York  University  by  a 
general  movement  of  citizens,  on  undenominational  and 
popular  lines.  At  first  called  the  University  of  the  City  of 
New  York,  it  continues  as  New  York  University  now. 
This  great  educational  beginning  of  the  American  Century 
took  place  twenty-one  years  after  1809. 


36        THREE  EPOCHS  IN  EDUCATION  IN  NEW  YOEK  CITY 

Why  the  American  Century  Was  Slow 

New  York  after  the  Kevolutionary  War  went  into  the 
work  of  repairing  damages  on  an  extensive  scale.  Much 
of  the  city  had  been  burned  or  ravaged  by  war.  The  citi- 
zens had  to  repair  the  city.  Government  needed  repair. 
Charters  and  corporations  had  to  be  made  over.  Public 
schools  were  so  badly  off  that  the  city  government  could 
not  do  the  work  by  itself.  A  volunteer  society  of  citizens,, 
called  the  Free  School  Society,  helped  to  keep  up  free 
schools  from  the  year  1805  till  the  year  1853,  when  it 
turned  over  to  the  city  its  organization.  It  had  in  forty- 
eight  years  taught  over  half  a  million  children  and  trained 
over  a  thousand  teachers  for  its  work.  King's  College  had 
also  to  be  repaired  and  made  into  Columbia  College.  There 
was  no  time  for  any  radical  new  beginning.  This  explains 
why  it  was  that  the  American  Century  had  one  quarter 
gone  before  there  was  a  distinctly  new  educational  begin- 
ning. Not  till  the  year  1830  was  there  a  New  Educa- 
tional Beginning.  This  new  beginning  was  New  York 
University.  As  a  teacher  who  has  been  identified  with 
this  movement  during  almost  one-third  of  its  duration,  I 
have  given  it  much  study.  I  shall  not  in  this  place,  with 
the  limited  time  at  my  command,  attempt  more  than  the 
general  conclusions  which  have  gradually  formed  in  my 
mind.  This  movement  of  1830  for  a  New  York  Univer- 
sity, like  that  of  William  Livingston  for  a  New  York  Col- 
lege three-quarters  of  a  century  before,  was  premature. 
The  city  in  1830  had  less  than  250,000  people,  including 
all  the  territory  that  is  included  in  the  city  now.  Nor 
was  there  a  populous  surrounding  territory  to  draw  from. 
To-day  there  are  twenty  times  as  many  people  within  sixty 
minutes  of  Washington  Square  as  there  were  when  the 


THBEE  EPOCHS  IN  EDUCATION  IN  NEW  YORK  CITY   37 

college  was  opened  in  that  place.  The  movement  was  pre- 
mature in  its  choice  of  an  undenominational  platform. 
Its  most  conspicuous  founders  were  Dutch  Reformed,  in- 
cluding the  first  three  Chancellors,  together  with  various 
Van  Schaicks,  Van  Rensselaers,  Vander  Poels,  Vermilyes, 
Delafields  and  Opdykes — yet  the  University  was  not 
Dutch  Reformed.  If  it  could  have  persuaded  some  strong 
denomination  which  had  no  college  in  this  city  to  make 
it  her  adopted  child  in  1830,  it  would  have  got  ten  times 
the  money,  and  not  have  been  treated  by  every  sect  as  a 
distant  relative.  Countless  people  repeat  the  Apostles 
Creed  "I  believe  in  the  Church  Catholic,  or  universal"  and 
then  give  all  their  love  and  benefactions  to  the  church 
narrow  and  particular. 

Unique  Features  of  New  York  University 

Nevertheless,  premature  beginnings  have  often  been  of 
use  to  the  world.  New  York  University  was  a  great  edu- 
cational beginning  in  several  particulars.  First,  it  gath- 
ered the  greatest  authorities  on  education  in  America  into 
a  notable  conference  in  1830  to  advise  as  to  its  platform. 
The  volume  which  records  their  decision  is  a  unique  and 
valuable  record  on  its  theme.  Second,  in  accordance  with 
their  advice,  New  York  University  planned  a  new  depar- 
ture, namely,  a  University  Department  of  Pedagogy. 
"The  corporation,"  according  to  the  minutes  of  Novem- 
ber, 1830,  "then  instructed  the  committee  on  a  plan  of  or- 
ganization to  inquire  into  the  propriety  of  establishing  in 
the  university  a  department  for  the  instruction  of  teach- 
ers of  common  schools."  This  committee  presented  the 
aims  of  a  school  of  Pedagogy  or  Teachers  College  fully 
and  forcibly,  but  neither  the  time  for  it  nor  the  money 
for  it  had  yet  come. 


38        THREE  EPOCHS  IN  EDUCATION  IN  NEW  YORK  CITY 

A  third  striking  feature  was  the  proposal  of  a  School 
of  Commerce.  February  12,  1833,  the  Chancellor  brought 
forward  for  consideration 

"the  expediency  and  propriety  of  establishing  in 
the  University  a  professorship  of  Commerce." 

"Communications  were  received  and  read  on  the 

importance  and  advantages  of  a  correct  and  liberal 

course  of  instruction  in  Commerce  and  the  useful  arts, 

and  which  were  ordered  to  lie  on  the  table." 

Fourth  was  the  planning  for  the  first  time  in  America 

of  instruction  in  Arts  and  Pure  Science  by  a  Graduate 

Faculty,    apart   from   an   Undergraduate   Faculty.     The 

Graduate  School  was  planned  under  the  title  of  "The  First 

General  Division."   The  Undergraduate  College  was  to  be 

known  as  "The  Second  General  Division." 

These  men  were  not  utterly  irrational  or  dreamers. 
They  argued  that  all  this  work  belonged  to  a  university. 
They  further  argued  that  New  York  City  had  become  by 
far  the  largest  and  richest  of  the  cities  of  America,  with  its 
quarter  of  a  million  of  people.  They  argued  rightly,  that 
here  if  anywhere,  the  means  ought  to  be  forthcoming  for 
the  securing  of  greater  breadth  and  at  the  same  time 
greater  depth  and  thoroughness  in  higher  education. 
These  men  of  brain  furnished  an  excellent  plan.  The  men 
of  money  either  did  not  exist  or  were  too  contracted  in  in- 
tellectual and  moral  vision  to  appreciate  fully  the  value 
of  the  proposed  effort.  A  university  needs  a  long  infancy. 
A  human  being  who  ought  to  live  for  a  century  needs  a 
long  childhood.  It  is  only  short-lived  things  that  reach- 
maturity  quickly.  New  York  University  needed  to  endure 
a  puling  infancy  of  half  a  century.  Even  now,  it  is  not 
more  than  half  way  from  infancy  to  full  growth.  Its  full 
growth  may  possibly  require  that  the  Commonwealth  re- 


THREE  EPOCHS  IN  EDUCATION  IN  NEW  YORK  CITY    39 

Bume  the  plan  of  William  Livingston  and  become  an  ac- 
tive, paying,  partner  in  an  utterly  undenominational,  pop- 
ular and  comprehensive  university  in  the  City  of  New 
York. 

Present  Platform  of  New  York  University 
From  its  beginning  till  now,  New  York  University 
has  kept  itself  free  from  any  entangling  alliance.  To-day 
it  is  not  under  contract  to  do  anything  whatsoever  which 
the  ideal  university  of  America  ought  not  to  undertake. 
It  is  not  under  contract  to  refrain  from  doing  anything 
whatsoever  which  the  ideal  university  ought  to  do.  No 
political  interest,  no  business  trust,  no  economic  theory, 
no  denominational  creed,  no  race,  no  territory,  not  even 
New  York  City  itself,  can  make  any  legal  claim  upon  it. 
The  only  scholarships  or  fellowships  that  it  holds  for  the 
benefit  of  any  particular  part  of  the  country  are  for  the 
benefit  of  regions  outside  of  this  city,  from  the  banks  of 
the  Hudson  to  the  banks  of  the  Eio  Grande.  For  anything 
I  know,  it  could  remove  its  teaching  activity  to  any  part 
of  the  United  States  or  of  the  habitable  globe,  and  carry 
it  on  there.  The  charter  locates  nothing  except  the  cor- 
poration, in  the  city  of  New  York.  But  this  corporation 
should  continue  to  center  its  teaching  activity  in  New 
York  City,  instead  of  removing  it  to  Canton  or  Constan- 
tinople, for  the  three  following  reasons :  there  will  soon  be 
the  largest  aggregation  of  people  the  world  has  ever  seen 
within  sixty  minutes  of  the  University  Building  at  Wash- 
ington Square,  where  we  can  count  between  four  and  five 
millions  now;  second,  New  York  City  is  the  best  possible 
place  from  which  teachers  can  speak  to  this  continent; 
third,  New  York  City  is  the  best  platform  in  America  for 
Americans  to  stand  on  who  have  something  to  say  to  other 
nations. 


40       THBEE  EPOCHS  IN  EDUCATION  IN  NEW  YORK  CITY 

In  proof  of  what  I  say,  I  may  offer  the  fact  that  in  my 
twenty-four  years  of  executive  work  in  this  University  I 
have  never  known  one  of  our  head  professors  to  be  per- 
suaded to  leave  this  city  to  teach  anywhere  else.  Brilliant 
men  in  strong  colleges  often  accept  our  call  to  come  to  New 
York  for  hard  work  on  small  pay.  Next  September, 
Woodman,  of  Dalhousie,  comes  to  take  the  place  of  Steven- 
son in  Geology.  Home,  of  Dartmouth,  comes  to  take  the 
place  of  Gordy  in  the  History  of  Education,  each  giving 
as  a  principal  reason  that  they  like  the  platform  for  teach- 
ing work  which  is  offered  by  the  metropolis. 

What  of  the  Fourth  Century  of  New  York  University? 

What  great  epoch  in  education  will  the  fourth  century 
of  New  York  City,  which  is  now  beginning,  bring  to  this 
metropolis?  It  must  be  left  to  the  year  2009  to  answer. 
I  shall  not  even  offer  a  conjecture. 

Regarding  New  York  University,  I  limit  myself  to  the 
hope  that  it  will  strengthen  and  prosper  as  a  great  teach- 
ing university,  seeking  to  give  to  the  Twentieth  Century 
thoroughly  furnished  scholars,  well-equipped  workers  in 
every  profession  and  pure,  high-minded  citizens  for  the 
service  of  America  and  of  mankind. 


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